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 To: My Fans!
From: Ann
Ann's 25 Random Thoughts

April 2009

Hi, readers!

If you're familiar with the Internet (and since you're reading this online, you probably are!), a lot of questionnaires, quizzes, and polls may have come your way. I've definitely seen my fair share of these, but nothing had caught my eye until a friend sent me her "25 Random Thoughts." If you haven't heard of it, the idea for this "assignment" is to come up with twenty-five pieces of information about yourself to share with friends and family. You can include anything you'd like, perhaps a little known fact, a personality quirk, an embarrassing moment or simply a funny observation. It just has to be about you. I've gotten a kick out of a few that I've read. For example, I never knew that one of my friends weighed over ten pounds at birth, and that another friend has to know the end of every mystery book before she starts reading it. And I had to laugh when a friend's sister wrote that she keeps all the bills in her wallet in value order, right side up, and facing forward – because I do exactly the same thing! How's that for a personality quirk? I decided that this would be a fun exercise to share with my readers. I hope you enjoy what I came up with! Here goes:

  1. I Love Lucy is my favorite television show. I've seen every episode dozens of times, and I have the entire series on DVD.
  2. Since moving to the country, I've had close encounters with coyotes, flying squirrels, raccoons, possums, groundhogs, snakes, moles, mice, turkey, deer and even bears.
  3. My most irrational fear is that a bat will get into the house. Actually, this isn't really irrational, considering it has already happened twice.
  4. I can't cook. Truly. If I have people over for dinner, I buy prepared food at the market.
  5. Nothing in the world could ever convince me to swim in a lake. Or to go camping.
  6. The worst hair decision I ever made was to cut my hair super short. I'll never do that again!
  7. I'm passionate about animal rescue. Adelaide, my current foster kitty, is in my lap right now.
  8. My dog Sadie is politically active! Last fall, she participated in a Dogs Walk for Obama campaign event.
  9. My father taught me to drive on a Volkswagen stick shift, but after years of driving cars with automatic transmissions, I'm not sure I would be able to drive a stick shift today!
  10. I've only been skiing once, and it was a disaster. I don't know how I managed to get down the slope, but as soon as I did, I took off my skis and spent the rest of the day reading a book in the lodge.
  11. I'd have liked school much better if I hadn't had to take gym class.
  12. Sometimes I dream that I'm back in high school and I have to take all my classes again while at the same time meet my writing deadlines.
  13. I make up songs to sing to my dog Sadie. Our favorite is entitled "Supper For the Pupper."
  14. One of my pet peeves is people who don't say "you're welcome" after someone has thanked them.
  15. I've voted in every election (local, state, and national) since I was 18.
  16. To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book, and watching the movie always makes me cry.
  17. I get teased because I don't have an iPod, a BlackBerry, a GPS or Tivo. I don't know how to text from my cell phone, and I bought a flat-screen TV, but I didn't like it, so I re-installed my ancient TV.
  18. As someone who's always been shy, I'm in awe of people who don't mind being the center of attention.
  19. I can't resist buying fabrics and art supplies, but I easily resist buying new clothes. As I write this, I'm staring at two big holes in the knees of my jeans.
  20. Despite the lack of attention to my own wardrobe, I sometimes fantasize about being a costume designer.
  21. One of my favorite Christmas ornaments is a macaroni chain that my nephew made in preschool. I hang it next to the one I made when I was in preschool.
  22. I was born during Hurricane Connie in 1955, and went to my first day of kindergarten during Hurricane Donna in 1960.
  23. After falling off a tree house ladder when I was 11, I had to have my spleen removed. (So did Karen in the Little Sister books.)
  24. I got my love of children's books from my mother, and my discipline and work ethic from my father.
  25. If salmon is on the menu, I'm definitely getting it.
If you enjoyed reading this, why not create your own 25 Random Thoughts to share with your friends and family? You never know what you may learn. (And by the way, even though I wasn't a ten-pound baby like my friend, I was the biggest baby in the Princeton Hospital nursery at the time, weighing eight pounds, two ounces!)

Happy reading!

Love,
Ann